KENNEDY AMENDMENTS NOS. 2835 THROUGH 2843

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87B00858R000200160009-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: March 26, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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S 3160
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE March 26, 1984
URGENT SUPPLEMENTAL
APPROPRIATIONS
KENNEDY AMENDMENTS NOS.
2835 THROUGH 2843
(Ordered to lie on the table.)
Mr. KENNEDY submitted . nine
amendments intended to be proposed
by him to the joint resolution (H.J.
Res. 492,) making an urgent supple-
mental appropriation for the fiscal
year ending September 30, 1984, for
the Department of Agriculture, as fol-
lows:
AMENDMENT No. 2895
On page 3, line 6, delete the figure
'192.750,000" and substitute in lieu thereof
the figure "$21,000,000".
AMENDMENT No. 2836
At the appropriate place add the follow-
ing: "The Senate and House Select Commit-
tees on Intelligence, in coordination with
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
and the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
shall conduct a full investigation of death
squads in El Salvador and shall report to
the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives by May 31, 1984, on the extent of
death squad activity, responsibility for orga-
nizing, directing and carrying out death
squad killings, and progress in prosecuting
those responsible for such killings."
AMENDMENT No. 2837
At the appropriate place add the following
language: "No funds shall be available
under this or any other legislation for mili-
tary assistance to the Government of El Sal-
vador after May 31, 1984, unless the Salva-
doran authorities have brought those na-
tional guardsmen charged with murder in
the deaths of the four United States
churchwomen in December 1980 to trial and
have obtained a verdict."
AMENDMENT No. 2838
At the appropriate place in the section en-
titled "MILITARY ASSISTANCE" of H.J.
Res. 492, add the following: No funds appro-
priated in this bill or other legislation shall
be available for military assistance for the
Government of El Salvador after May 31,
1984, unless that government has initiated a
prosecution of those involved in the murder
of two American Labor advisers in 1981.
AMENDMENT No. 2839
At the appropriate place in H.J. Res. 492,
insert the following: "No additional funds
shall be available under this or any other
legislation for military assistance to the
Government of El Salvador unless the Presi-
dent certifies to Congress by June 30, 1984,
that the Salvadoran Government has
agreed to participate in unconditional nego-
tiations with all major parties to the con-
flict in El Salvador which are willing to par-
ticipate unconditionally in such a negotia-
tion process, and that upon the beginning of
such negotiations, the Government of El
Salvador agrees to attend and to negotiate
in good faith: Provided, however, That this
provision shall not take effect unless the op-
position forces represented by the FDR/
FMLN have agreed by such date to partici-
pate in such negotiations and to attend and
negotiate in good faith.
AMENDMENT No. 2840
On page 3, at the end of line 15, insert the
following: "land reform,".
AMENDMENT No. 2841
At the appropriate place add the follow-
ing: "No United States ground forces shall
be introduced into the territory of El Salva-
dor, Honduras or Nicaragua for the pur-
poses of combat unless:
"(1) Congress has declared war or author-
ized the presence of such forces in advance
by a joint resolution signed by the President
of the United States: or
"(2) the presence of such forces is neces-
sary to provide for the immediate evacua-
tion of United States citize or to respond
to a clear and present danger of military
attack on the United States.
In either case described in paragraph (2),
the President shall advise and, to the extent
possible, consult in advance with the Con-
gress."
AMENDMENT No. 2842
At an appropriate place add the following:
"No funds appropriated-in this or any other
legislation may be obligated or expended for
the participation of United States Armed
Forces in military training exercises in Hon-
duras unless the Congress has authorized
the exercises in advance by joint resolution
signed by the President of the United
States."
AMENDMENT No. 2843
Beginning with line 19 on page
all through line 2 on page 5.
CENTRAL AMERICA
4, delete
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, this
week, the Senate begins a historic
debate on the question of U.S. policy
in Central America. The administra-
tion has successfully amended House
Joint Resolution 492 to include an ad-
ditional $93 million in military assist-
ance to the Government of El Salva-
dor and an additional $21 million in as-
sistance to the contras in Nicaragua.
Before reaching the merits of this
proposed legislation, some comments
are in order about the vehicle that the
administration has chosen to appropri-
ate this money, and the procedures
that the administration has employed
to achieve its purposes.
It is indecent that the administra-
tion misuses a bill to appropriate
money to assist the most desperate
millions in Africa-who are now in the
midst of one of the most serious fam-
ines and droughts in their history-as
the vehicle by which the Congress is
asked to provide more weapons to the
military forces at war in Central
America. In order to cast a vote for
bread for the people of Africa, it may
well be necessary for Senators also to
cast a vote for more guns and bullets
in Central America.
As for the legislative strategy here,
the administration has chosen proce-
dures that short-circuit the legislative
process and minimize full considera-
tion of these matters by the duly con-
stituted committees of Congress. I
object to the decision to circumvent
the authorization procedures by which
appropriations are debated and ap-
proved in the Senate. Relying on the
argument that there is an emergency
in El Salvador which requires immedi-
ate action by Congress, the adminis-
tration has bypassed the Senate For-
eign Relations Committee, rendering
that committee inoperative and irrele-
vant with respect to this so-called
emergency military assistance. By
going straight to the Appropriations
Committee, the administration has
avoided dealing with precisely those
Members of the Senate who have
spent the most time and energy and
effort to become expert on the situa-
tion in Central America.
By the same token, the administra-
tion's decision to attach its request for
additional assistance to El Salvador
and for the contras in Nicaragua to
this legislation is a blatant effort to
end-run the House of Representatives.
One can only presume that, when it
comes to this military assistance, the
administration does not want to con-
sult with its critics in the House. of
Representatives-but prefers to deal
with Republican rubberstamps, and
then try to resolve this issue in the rel-
ative obscurity of a House-Senate con-
ference committee.
These issues are too important to
the future peace of this hemisphere
and to the future of U.S. relations
with the peoples of Central 4merica
for debate to be cut short or for the
committees of Congress to be circum-
vented.
Basic questions need to be stated, de-
bated, and resolved before a single ad-
ditional dollar of military aid is appro-
priated for El Salvador. Every time
there is a problem in the world,
whether in Lebanon or with the Soviet
Union, whether in Grenada or El Sal-
vador or Nicaragua, the President
rushes toward a military confronta-
tion. All that he seems to understand
in foreign policy is more guns, more
bullets, and more troops. What ever
happened to diplomacy? There has not
been a single major successful diplo-
matic initiative by this administration
anywhere in the world since it took
office.
President Reagan's instinctive resort
to military force as a substitute for
wise diplomacy is the fundamental
flaw in American foreign policy, espe-
cially our policy in Central America.
Everywhere we look, the President is
seeking to use superior military power
as a substitute for a steady, coherent,
and balanced foreign policy, based on
America's own best values. The Presi-
dent is resorting to the military and
the CIA to rescue a failed foreign
policy and enforce short-sighted and
short-term solutions. In Central Amer-
ica, President Reagan is moving U.S.
combat forces closer and closer to con-
flict.
I believe that the Contadora process
offers a far more realistic way to peace
in the region. Everything and any-
thing de-
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March 26, 1984 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -SENATE S 3161
signed to strengthen the Contadora progress on human rights and other do not need and we cannot afford an
process, but the President is pursuing reforms. other Lebanon in El Salvador.
policies that actually undermine and No more funds should be provided to In our relations with that troubled
discourage the efforts of the Conta- the Government of El Salvador after region of the world, let us return to
dora nations. May 31, 1984, unless there has been a the spirit of the Alliance for Progress.
Instead of reducing the Sandinistas' verdict in the case of the four church. Let us revive the cause of human
reliance on Cuba and' the Soviet women murdered in December 1980. jsights and human progress. Let us
Union, the policies of the Reagan ad- No more funds should be provided to stand for what is -best in our own
ministration have pushed the Sandin- the Government of El Salvador after people and our own traditions.
istas into greater and greater depend- May 31, 1984, unless a prosecution has
ence upon those two nations. begun in the case of the two American PRFSSLER AMENDMENT NO. 2844
Instead of challenging the Sandinis- labor advisers murdered in January the table.)
tas' support at home by pushing for a 1981. (Ordered
PRESSLER to to lie ie on on submitted an
meaningful electoral process that No more funds should be provided to aMr. intended to be proposed
would include vigorous participation the Government of El Salvador after by him amendment the joint rHouse
by opponents of the regime, the June 30, 1984, unless that Government Resolution 4 resolution, s making se
Reagan administration has pursued a 1s willing to conduct unconditional ne- Joint oint supplemental appropriation for
policy that has consolidated support gotiations with opposition forces. the fiscal year ending September 30.
inside Nicaragua for the Sandinistas. No more funds should be provided to 1984, for the Department of Agricu]-
Instead of isolating the conflict in El the Government of El Salvador unless Lure; as follows:
Salvador so that it does not spread there is continued progress in land
into a regional war, the administration reform. At an appropriate place in the resolution.
has expanded the conflict to the point insert the following new language:
No more funds should be provided to Because the United States depends upon
where Honduras is now in the verge of the Government of El Salvador unless satellites for preserving the peace through
being draw into the hostilities. In fact, that Government has in fact made command and control of United States
a regional war throughout Central progress in eliminating the death forces worldwide and through early warning
America may well be just around the squads. of strategic attack, among other functions:
corner if President Reagan is permit- In addition, we must get to the Because satellites are vital for eertifica-
ted to continue his policy of militariz bottom of the persistent lion of arms control agreements:
ing the conflict. allegations Because the United States and .her na-
Instead of carefully limiting the mil- that high Salvadoran officials are tions rely increasingly on space based svs-
deeply involved in the death squads, terns for weather forecasting, eonmursica-
itary assistance that we send to El Sal- possibly with the complicity or acqui-
commercial exploration, and
vador in the interest of pursuing a ne- other, mortalant resource
essence of the CIA. other important activities:
gotiated settlement of the conflict The members of the Senate and Because the maximum utilization of space
there, the administration has given House Committees on Intelligence technology for commerce and science is as-
the Salvadoran military a blank check, should be instructed to make a full in- sured only under peaceful conditions:
thereby insuring that the war will vestigation of these allegations and Because the safety of such important mis-
rage on. report to the Congress by May 31 of sions including those performed by the
Instead of keeping U.S. troops out of space shuttle would be compromised by the
the conflict, the Reagan administra- this year. threat posed by antisatellite weapons:
tion has organized exercises in Hondu- With respect to Nicaragua, I am ab- Because an uncontrolled space arms race
ras that bring out forces to the very solutely convinced that U.S. assistance would undermine strategic .stability and
brink of the fighting. to the contras is both wrong and coun- divert resources needed to maintain strong
-Instead of strengthening the new de- terproductive. I will offer an amend- and balanced defenses; and
went striking that assistance from this Because the present pace of military de-
velopments, including weapons tests, will
tion has pursued policies which have legislation. There is no Justification soon reduce the prospects of avoiding the
weakened that democratic Govern- whatever for this Congress to ratify areaponization of outer space:
ment. Ronald Reagan's secret war against The Senate and House of Representatives
I believe we need a new approach Nicaragua. The Senate should have of the United States of Asierica in Congress
that will give diplomacy a chance. In ,the courage to stop it now, before it is assembled, hereby declare That the Presi-
an effort to move the United States in Loo late. dent should seek agreement with the Soviet
the direction of negotiation rather Finally, I will offer an amendment Union to-
than confrontation, I intend to work to prohibit the use of G.S. Combat (1) ifiable declare an immediate, mutual and ver-
moratorium of limited duration on
with other Senators to amend this leg- 'troops in El Salvador, Honduras, and the testing in space of antisatellite weapons;
islation and to develop an effective al- Nicaragua without advance approval (2) immediately resume negotiations on a
ternative to the Reagan administra- by Congress. As we learned from the mutual and verifiable ban on the testing,
tion's policies of more guns, more bul- failure of the administration's policy production, deployment, and use of any
lets, more war. In Lebanon, even the War Powers Act antisatellite weapon;
First, with respect to El Salvador, we 'gives this President too much leeway (3) seek, on an urgent basis, a comprehen-
should provide only extremely limited to commit American troops to combat sive verifiable treaty prohibiting the testint.
military assistance to the new govern- where the security of the Nation is not production, deployment, or use of any
space-directed or space-based weapons
meet until we know who will be run- at stake. system which is designed to inflict injury or
ring that government. I will offer an In addition, we should amend this cause any other form of damage on the
amendment to the Inouye amendment bill to prohibit military exercises in Earth, in the atmosphere, or on objects
to provide sufficient military assist- Honduras unless the administration placed in space.
ante to last only through the end of has obtained advance approval from SEC. 2. Such agreements should not re-
May-$21,000,000 instead , of Congress. The provocative exercises strict operations in space not involving
$63,000,000. At that time, we will learn mow underway should be canceled, so weapons, such as the United States space
who has been elected President of El that the Senate and the House will shuttle program.
Salvador, and we will know whether have the time to conduct a full review IT IS TIME TO STOP SPACE WEAPONS
that Government will in fact commit of that policy. ? Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President,
Itself to human rights, to land reform, We must halt this rush to military today I am offering as an amendment
and to the elimination of death confrontation in Central' America. We to House Joint Resolution 492, the
squads. must change course before we find 1984 urgent supplemental appropri-
Second, any military assistance that V.S. soldiers bogged down in a war in ation for the Public Law 480 program,
we send to El Salvador should be Central America that will be bloody, the text of my resolution calling for a
much more carefully conditioned on dirty, and ultimately unwinnable. We ban on weapons in space and on weap-
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